Wheat Free???

Tabbykatt

Not sure of this is the right thread to place this post?

My sister has been told that she may have an allergy to Wheat and therefore needs to try a Wheat free diet. Does anyone out there know of ways to achieve this without having to pay the huge prices supermarkets put on wheat free items? £4 for a small loaf of bread is way above her budget!

Any help/advice would be greatfully recieved

wigginsmum

She could try corn and rice pasta from the supermarkets. I've never found a suitable non-wheat bread; it all tastes disgusting to me, so I do without. Oatcakes can be a good substitute; rice cakes are great too, particularly the Marmite ones. Both can be used to make open sandwiches.

ti1980

I think some things you can get on prescription like wheat free flour. It works out a lot cheaper than buying from the supermarkets who put massive mark ups on wheat free products.

One of my old flatmates was following a wheat free diet and she used to eat a lot of vegetables, fruit, rice, chicken and fish. She used to be very creative in making her own sauces using veg as a lot of the ready made ones in shops have wheat(flour) in some form as it is a cheap thickener.

Debt_Free_Chick

hhmmmmmm...... I think she might need more investigation. I've read that those who are diagnosed with a wheat allergy actually have another allergy e.g. a yeast allergy.

Anyway ... try some of the Doves' Farm speciality flours such as Spelt, Rye, Buckwheat etc ..... You may need to do some research to find out what constitutes "wheat free".

[Deleted User]

I used to do wheat-free. I wouldn`t even bother imitating wheat bread as the wheat-free flour is disgusting. I used a lot of rye breads but read the packet because a few have added wheat. They often taste better toasted. Buckwheat pasta is very good and is pretty similar to wheat pasta.

juno

Is she wheat free or gluten free?

I'm gluten free, and I find the Juvela bread rolls I get on prescription are OK if microwaved for about 15 seconds before eating. Other than that, I make my own bread but tend not to eat it much. I love rice cakes, but they're more of a snack than a bread substitute.

Check out the coeliac society website, as that may help.

Nile

Tabbykatt wrote:

Not sure of this is the right thread to place this post?

My sister has been told that she may have an allergy to Wheat and therefore needs to try a Wheat free diet. Does anyone out there know of ways to achieve this without having to pay the huge prices supermarkets put on wheat free items? £4 for a small loaf of bread is way above her budget!

Any help/advice would be greatfully recieved

Hello Tabbykatt

Who told your sister that she may have an allergy to wheat? Was it a dietician or other medical practitioner?

There is a difference between allergy and food intolerance. I would want to have accurate information and diagnosis before starting to change my diet and waste money on possibly inappropriate food or diets.

If your sister has not seen a dietician or medical practitioner, that would be the best way for her to get an accurate diagnosis and advice.............and will probably save her money and health problems too.

Kind Regards

Nile

thriftlady_2

Thanks, Nile exactly what I wanted to say.True food allergies are quite rare(although not as rare as they once were).

My dd has allergies to nuts and eggs.In both cases she has an IMMEDIATE and dramatic reaction if she eats or comes into skin-contact with these foods.People react in different ways,but in my dd's case her lips and mouth get tingly and start swelling,she gets hives and vomits.If her throat starts to swell she may not be able to breathe and would need an emergency injection of adrenalin or she could die.She carries adrenalin everywhere she goes.

I don't wish to imply your sister doesn't suffer unpleasant symptons after eating wheat,or to trivialise her condition,but as Nile says a diagnosis by a state registered dietitian or a doctor would be a good idea.

I'm really sorry if she has already done this-I don't want to come across as 'my daughter is more allergic than your sister

halloweenqueen_2

2

Wheat Free, Milk Free, Egg Free, Tasty Chicken Nuggets

chicken breasts

3 teaspoons egg substitute 3-4 tablespoons water 1/2 cup polenta 4 garlic clovesolive oil

1. Crush garlic cloves and stir into 1/4 cup of oil - set aside.
2. Cut up chicken into nugget size pieces (note i have also done this leaving the breast whole and cooking a little longer - its very yummy).
3. In a bowl, mix the no-egg and water to make a paste - add more water if the paste is too thick to coat the chicken, more no-egg if its too watery.
4. Fill a second bowl with the polenta.
5. Dunk the chicken into the no-egg paste, then into the polenta bowl, ensuring the chicken is fully covered.
6. When all chicken is coated, heat the "garlic oil" in a pan, add the nuggets and cook until golden.
7. Great on their own for nibbles or with a salad and veges for a meal.

Tabbykatt

Nile wrote:

There is a difference between allergy and food intolerance. I would want to have accurate information and diagnosis before starting to change my diet and waste money on possibly inappropriate food or diets.

If your sister has not seen a dietician or medical practitioner, that would be the best way for her to get an accurate diagnosis and advice.............and will probably save her money and health problems too.

To be honest when she first spoke to me about this 'allergy', I was and still am a little sceptical. I dont believe she has seen her Doctor or a dietician, I think its more to do with the amount of hoo hah made at this time of year (New Year/New You etc) in certain magazines and I think she has recognised some of the symptoms as her own. I know she suffers from stomach problems/bad digestion quite alot so it could very well be true.

I couldn't believe it though when she told me about the £4 loaf of bread, isnt it appalling how Supermarkets latch onto these fads? And said that I would post on this fantastic message board I know of!

Many thanks to those that have posted I have passed on the info to her.

I hope no-one has felt that I have trivialised food allergies, I did mean to put it in quote marks in my original post.... sorry I know how dangerous a TRUE allergy can be.

SallyinWales

I would describe my self as 'wheat sensitive' meaning I get awful headaches , feel ill and sometimes bloated if I have wheat more than say once a week. I refuse to be paranoid about it so don't fret about trace wheat in things, but I do buy the gluten free pasta, which is more expensive than wheat pasta but is still a cheap meal when you consider a 500g bag has 5 huge portions in it. Would second the comments about most of teh gluten free products being seriously over priced. My biggest challenge was weaning myself off bread, now we only have bread maybe once a fortnight if we can be bothered to bake (spelt and rye usually) and don't really miss it anymore. On the plus side, that cut down on the random snacking and weight gain thing!

Because I'm just wheat intolerant, not fully gluten allergic, I can happily eat Ryvita (check its the rye one, one or two have wheat in- I think its the multigrain and the raisin one), which covers the 'what to make sandwiches with' dilemma, and oatcakes are a great standby. Rice is fine, so rice with dinner is very cheap.

So, really seconding what has been said above. You need to find out whether its a true, dangerous allergy or just something she needs to avoid. After that, if you ignore bread its amazing how easy it is to give wheat a miss.

By the way, buckwheat flour is grat in batters, spelt flour though an ancient wheat doesnt seem to trigger the same symptoms for many wheat intolerant people and is almost as good as plain flour in sauces, crumbles etc, oats are a great thickener, and rye is lovely if you don't mind heavier loaves.